15 Cities That Should Have NBA Teams

At thousands of water coolers nationwide, there exists a void in conversation that simply cannot be filled by fantasy sports, video games, or ESPN highlights.

The men and women subject to this void yawned heavily the day LeBron James made his decision to go the Miami Heat. They sighed drearily when the World Cup ended early July.

These people suffer from a rare disorder, an unfortunate geographical malady of which New York and Los Angeles residents have only heard in ghost stories.

It's called Not-having-an-NBA-in-your-hometown...um...syndrome.

NHANIYHS (pronounced "Nonnies") affects millions of people all over the U.S. It forces parents to cling to their kids' little league soccer matches, and urges bachelors to play Wii Sports like there's no tomorrow.

These home remedies have little impact on NHANIYHS.

But luckily, certain cities have established the wherewithal to possibly support NBA teams in the future. Said cities would undoubtedly eradicate the rampant NHANIYHS that has taken a toll on their inhabitants.

The following is an analysis of the cities that are most inclined to be home to NBA teams in the future.

VIrginia Beach-Norfolk

Virginia Beach-Norfolk has not been without basketball in history: The city is home to the Old Dominion University Monarchs, and it used to be home to the Virginia Squires, a short-lived ABA team that existed 1967-1976.

Virginia Beach-Norfolk has a large television market and a relatively large population—the East Coast town could easily support a major basketball team.

The Norfolk Scope arena is a decently sized space for a budding or transferred sports program. It holds 12,600.

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louisans would likely call their city a baseball town, but the Midwestern city also has hockey and football. St. Louis leans heavily on Albert Pujols and the Cardinals, but an addition of an NBA team would be well-received.

St. Louis is large in terms of both population and media market—it could easily support an NBA franchise.